Another Outrageous Shooting - WHY?

Because we are night owls here, out of sync with the rest of the world, and because we don't watch TV news, your Head Trucker often does not see the big stories until a day or two after the rest of you.

Overnight, I had a chance to get caught up on the Jacob Blake shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  And I am furious.  Not all the details of what happened are yet available, it seems, but the HORRIFIC video shot by a bystander clearly shows Blake walking away from several policemen following him with drawn guns.

By the time he reaches the door of his SUV, one officer is close enough to grab his shirt.  As Blake continues to open the door and tries to get into the vehicle, the officer starts shooting him in the back - seven or more shots can be heard.

Why shoot a man in the back who apparently was not armed and not threatening the officers?  Walking away from police who were yelling at him to stop was a totally stupid thing to do, granted.  But from what I can see on the video, there is NO EXCUSE for what the cop did.  He could have stopped him several other ways besides shooting him.

And it seems Blake's three young children were in the SUV at the time, watching all this.  HORRIBLE.

Blake is in hospital fighting for his life.  And rioters are tearing up the city of Kenosha.

Has no one told the police in Kenosha - and all through the rest of the USA - to fucking STOP KILLING BLACK PEOPLE?

Three months after George Floyd was slowly, agonizingly murdered on a pavement in Minneapolis, and this shit is STILL HAPPENING?

DOES NO ONE HAVE ANY CONTROL OVER THE COPS ANYMORE?

IS THIS AMERICA OR AMERIKKKA?   IS THIS A POLICE STATE?  Does anybody CARE??

Sorry to sound so extreme, guys, but there's no reason for this shit to still be happening.  Every cop in the nation should have gotten the word by now.  WHO IS IN CHARGE OF THE COPS ON THE STREET, AND WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY DOING ABOUT IT???

I don't condone or excuse all the rioting and violence at all.  But obviously, it's not going to stop as long as the cops keep MURDERING people at will, with no punishment and no control.  Of course the country is going to fall apart if it doesn't STOP RIGHT FUCKING NOW.

And if the cops are a law unto themselves, then NOBODY IS SAFE.  They can kill anybody they please, anytime, anywhere.  You or me or Grandma or Uncle John.  Anyone.

Black lives matter.  Justice matters.  Simple human decency matters.  I don't know what else to say.

I know I don't want to hear pretty words of sympathy and sorrow from any goddamn politicians high or low, left or right.  I want somebody to take real action, take control of the cops, and STOP THE MADNESS NOW!   STOP KILLING BLACK PEOPLE!!  JUST STOP STOP STOP IT!!!

God bless Jacob Blake and his family.  God help us all.


P. S. , 8/26/20 -- I just saw an opinion piece by a journalist in Wisconsin saying, "I don't believe any police academy trains them to murder someone like that." Oh, but they do.  That's the problem.

See my June 11 post, "Killer Cops - The Why and the How," for a couple of eye-opening video reports on this very subject.

Sunday Drive: Pachelbel, Canon in D Major

In the face of worldwide hysteria and folly, I offer my truckbuddies a lovely moment of serenity - as performed by Impetus Madrid Baroque Ensemble in 2012:




The odds are extremely high that nothing at all is going to hurt you.  So do keep calm and carry on, fellas.

This, too, shall pass.

Fourth of July 2018: I Am an American

This is a PSA made by the Ad Council in the wake of the September 11th attacks, and reissued ten years later.  I find it very timely and very moving still.

With my tiny voice here on this blog, I appeal to all my truckbuddies, and to all my fellow Americans, to remember in this darkening time that while we may be a nation of many colors, we are all one people under Old Glory. I pray that everyone from all sides, of all stripes and shades and opinions, will remember that above and beyond the individual pursuit of happiness, it is our duty as Americans to preserve and extend "the blessings of liberty" handed down to us, to make common cause across all lines and divisions, to seek peace and pursue it - not merely abroad, but starting right here at home with our friends, relations, and next-door neighbors.

I seem to hear the ominous ticking of a clock. We have had a very good thing going here in this country for nearly 250 years now. Do we really have to destroy it all in sordid squabbles, putrid politics, and internecine conflict? Must we, really? Is there not still time to turn back the tide of hate and simply love this country - and one another?  Is that not the greatest and best agenda of all?

Brothers and sisters, Americans all, I am not asking anyone to surrender. I am just asking everyone to unite, despite all differences, under the starry banner that is red and blue - for our own good, and for that of the whole world. While we still can.  God help us so to do.

I am an American.

This Has Got to Stop, NOW

I am steaming mad and deeply, deeply ashamed of Texas and its police.  To the point of nausea, in fact.

I'm not running a daily news blog here, so I don't try to post about everything that happens in the world, and I rarely go on a blog rant anymore (realizing how useless my 2 cents' worth is in the scheme of things) - but among all the other awful things in the news today, this in particular made me lose it.

What the fuck is wrong with these big bruiser cops, throwing a little bitty woman around like a rag doll and slamming her to the ground and sitting on her?  On a simple, petty little traffic stop - which, by the way, is totally discretionary - in broad daylight, in front of hundreds of passing motorists?  Just What.The.Fuck. is wrong with them???

If it had been a white woman, you can damn sure believe the officer's badge would be gone, his career would be toast, and no second chances. And his ass would be sitting in jail for a good long while.

Unlike what happened to the McKinney police officer last year, who showed what a really BIG MAN he was by manhandling and kneeling on a skinny 14-year-old black girl in a bikini - and has now been cleared of all charges by the local grand jury:



What a travesty of justice.  The police are NOT the law.  The police are NOT above the law.  The police are NOT our masters.  They are the servants of the law and of the public, and somebody better get that across to them, pronto. 

I understand that there are times when the police are obliged to use force to preserve the peace, or defend life and property. Of course. But the sword of justice must be wielded wisely, kindly, and judiciously - and there are many, many more times when the police are under an overriding obligation NOT to use force. Something has gone far wrong here, and just what are all our elected leaders doing about it? Where is the corrective action?

This cannot go on.  Nor any of the other godawful things spilling across your TV screen every day, not if civilization is to continue.

And of course Herr Trump is milking it for all it is worth - "Vote for me, I Will Keep You Safe."  Yes, in a police state run for his and his lackeys' goddamn profit, 24/7.  Just like Hitler promised and every other shitheaded dictator you can name.  This is how and where it starts - and don't think it can't happen here.  It can.

Maybe it already has, and we just haven't realized it yet.

I have no answers.  I just say, it all has to stop now, just STOP THE MADNESS before we are all engulfed by a monstrous, evil darkness that will devour feckless liberals and overweening conservatives alike.  And if that comes, don't think for a moment that your white skin or cool clothes or your pretty college diploma will give you any immunity.  The boot will be on everyone's neck.
 
Here's the Washington Post article, if you care to read it:

Austin Police Body-slam Black Teacher

Oh, and of course there's this too, in sunny, laid-back South Florida:



North Miami Police Shoot Black Man with Hands Raised

And no, even this does NOT in any way, shape, or form justify the stupid fuckheads who have been shooting police officers.  Two wrongs do not make a right.

But it all has to STOP.  NOW.  And that means EVERYBODY on all sides.

Race and religion have nothing to do with it. Simple human decency does.

That's all I can say, I'm too upset to carry on further here.

Voices of Sanity from around the World

The Right Reverend Alan Wilson, Bishop of Buckingham, on marriage equality, which the Cameron government has promised to bring to the United Kingdom, and which most of the hierarchy of the Church of England opposes:




From May 2010, an exchange between Michael D. Higgins (who was elected President of Ireland in 2011) and Tea Party-loving radio guy Michael Graham on an Irish radio station:




And from Down Under, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has some thoughts on the birther movement in this country: